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David Bridger - November 16th, 2009

About November 16th, 2009

Storytelling 11:44 am
Last week a writer on Litopia mentioned an interview in which this year's Booker Prizewinner, Hilary Mantel, said that although writing came easily to her, she wasn't a natural storyteller and had to teach herself that skill, and the Litopian asked if other writers thought storytelling had come to them naturally or if they had learned it.

I was a writer first. When I was thirteen, my English teacher told me I was born to write. I took his comment to heart and kept it with me throughout my years at sea, which is where I learned storytelling.

There's an oral tradition among sailors, even today when everyone is a technician of some sort or other, and it may surprise some to hear that most sailors' stories are not about ships or big waves or bad weather, but about people - and especially about memorable characters. Every group of sailors will normally include at least one good storyteller, and every sailor will remember listening to at least one master storyteller. Anyone can tell a story, but only a gifted storyteller who can give it life will find his listeners asking to hear a story again and again.

When I listened to one such master on my first ship tell the same story in two night watches several months apart, I realised on my second hearing that he wasn't just reciting it. He was living it, and, because he was so skilled, we lived it too. After a sailor has been around for a few years, he'll recognise lesser versions of master storytellers' tales circulating among good storytellers - and he'll hear unsatisfactory versions recited by poor storytellers.

My aim is to marry my natural gift for written communication with the talent for storytelling I learned from listening to masters. And to keep listening and learning, obviously.

How about you?
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